No one would have imagined at one point of time that the era of evolution would come to an end. Bill Gates the wealthiest man on the planet who got slightly beaten by Jeff Bezos of Amazon for a day or so regained his title, seemed would continue to churn out different version of Windows each year.

Back in the day when Bill Gates started out he developed Microsoft Windows in a small room and went to IBM and asked them to run his latest OS on their systems. OS was big thing then and IBM couldn’t refuse. This later turned made way for a Windows version for Apple’s Macintosh.
Let us quickly dive into the journey of Windows from its early days to the present Windows 10.

The first version, 1985

MS Windows came into existence with its first version called Windows 1.01 in 1984. Subsequent upgrades were then launched; 1.02 in 1986, 1.03 in 1987 and 1.04 in 1987 again. They were identical version of 1.01 and were run on MS-DOS. The difference in all of these upgrades was that of slight technical bits.

The second version, 1987

Meanwhile, Microsoft was throwing out upgrades to their Windows 1.01, in the same year they also launched their second or next version of Windows – version 2.03. In the same year (1987), they released an upgrades to its Windows 2.03, 2.10. In the following year i.e. 1988, another upgrade 2.11 was released in the market.

The third version, 1990

Then came the 90s and Microsoft came up with its version for the 90s, Windows 3. But this time they didn’t release any upgrades its follow up version to the Windows 2.03. Instead it was two years later, in 1992 that an upgrade, Windows 3.1 arrived on the scene.

Following this there were a series of upgrades which made its way into consumer market. A total of 5 upgrades were launched; Windows NT 3.1, Windows for Workgroups 3.11, Windows 3.2, Windows NT 3.5 and Windows NT 3.51 in order.

The fourth version, 1995

The first popular Windows OS that made it into our homes and everywhere else was Windows 95, you guessed it, released in the year 1995. Its success was one to marvel at! Not only it became extensively common in households and workplaces, its logo with four different colored small squares in a big window flying across the blue screen became one of the major top-of-the-mind brands at the time.

The fifth version, 1996

In 1996, Microsoft launched its NT line OS and hence, the name Windows NT 4.0 which had a similar environment as Windows 95 and was available for both personal use and workplace server systems. Windows NT is not technically considered a follow up to Win 95.

The sixth version (technically fifth, sequentially sixth), 1998
Along came Windows 98 which broke all records its predecessor, Windows 95, had set. It was at this time when the Indian nation was flooding with the influx of computers. So for those PCs Windows 95 became the standard OS. The generation therein grew up to viewing the 98 logo and its startup sound.

Windows 98 got its upgrade in the year 1999. As per the stats of 2014, dissertation writers are in demand and Microsoft has sold over a billion copies of Windows 98.

The sixth version, 2000

With millennium came Windows 2000. Now this was technically the follow up to Windows NT above and not a direct successor to Windows 98 but on the timeline of OS’s evolution, deserves a mention. Microsoft also launched Windows ME in the same year.

The seventh version, 2001

2001 was the year of legendary Windows XP. It was hailed as a ‘processor-independent, multiprocessing, multi-user operating system.’ In the year 2005, Windows XP got an upgrade and in the same year Windows XP professional also saw light of the day.

Moving towards the close

Subsequently in 2007, came Windows Vista which didn’t leave much of an imprint in the OS scene. Windows 7, however, stepped up the game from the underwhelming Windows Vista which packed had enhanced graphics and seamless UI.

2012 saw Windows 8 which revolutionized the mobile landscape. Its upgrade 8.1 came in 2013 but wasn’t met with much enthusiasm. Finally in 2015, Windows 10 was launched and Microsoft stated that there will be no more operating systems launched from this point forward, only upgrades to Win 10.

By : Ivan H